Treads of a high performance tire are expected to have outstanding traction and handling properties. Generally, tire treads are compounded with high filler loading and resins to achieve these desired properties.
In passenger tires, miscible resins are typically used to form the treads in order to increase traction. Although these resins increase overall traction, tread compounds formed from these miscible resins tend to suffer from reduced traction and handling at high speeds or at high temperatures during hard driving.
Racecar tires have solved the problems observed in passenger tires at high speeds and temperatures by adding high softening point immiscible resins and resin blends. For instance, it has been observed that using resin packages with high G′ (storage modulus) values at high temperatures along with high tangent delta (ratio of loss modulus to storage modulus) values improve tire performance at high speeds and temperatures. However, since adding immiscible resins reduces the life of the tire, using immiscible resins for high performance passenger tires is not a viable option because of the increased stability and lifetime requirements of passenger tires versus those of racecar tires.
The present invention solves the traction and handling problems observed in high performance passenger tires by functionalizing a dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)-based resin with groups capable of reacting with silica or carbon black using ruthenium-catalyzed ring-opening cross metathesis. The functional groups of this resin allow for the formation of a stable immiscible resin system usable for the formation of high performance tire treads which is non-extractable, provides a stable morphology, and exhibits a broad transition using a single resin.
Relevant prior art to the present disclosure includes U.S. Publication No. 2013-0296475; U.S. Ser. No. 13/822,103 filed on Mar. 11, 2013; U.S. Publication No. 2010-0113703 A1; U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,449; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/705,057 filed on Sep. 24, 2012; U.S. Publication No. 2009-0104429 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,844,409; 6,436,476; U.S. Publication No. 2012-0058275; and Hongyu Cui & Michael R. Kessler, Glass Fiber Reinforced ROMP-based Bio-renewable Polymers: Enhancement of the Interface with Silane Coupling Agents, COMPOSITES SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 72, 1264-1272 (2012).